Cable ties are a creation of the Thomas & Betts Company who designed such ties in 1958 for airplane wire harnesses. These products are generally made out of plastic and have teeth angled such that they are pushable into a receptacle, the receptacle having indentations pointing inwards, such that teeth are pushable in one direction, but then lock or are more difficult to pull in the other direction. This keeps the cable tie attached to itself or to another connector.
Similarly, metal fasteners known in the art are used to fasten one item to another, such as the pushpin, thumbtack, grommet, clothespin, split pin, and brass fastener. These devices all serve to attach one item to another. The brass fastener functions by creating a hole with the fastener or before entry of the fastener, pushing the fastener through the holes, and separating the two legs of the fastener after passing through one or two layers/materials to be fastened together. Brass fasteners are typically procured from a soft metal (e.g., brass), allowing for separation of the two tines after penetration through the materials to be connected. This is similar to split pins which pass through a hole and then are separated after passing through.
While each of the above-described fastening devices has its uses in the art, most of them require puncturing, bending, or otherwise mutilating the fastener and/or at least one of the items being fastened. While fasteners are often inexpensive and easy to replace, the fact remains that one must continually buy new fasteners to replace the old. More problematically, though, the items being fastened often require hole punches, pinching, or puncturing by the fastener, thereby decreasing the life of the product being fastened or disabling the product from being connected and disconnected multiple times without damaging the product.
Needed in the art is a way to fasten items together strongly, in a repeatable manner which does not destroy or mutilate the items being fastened together or the fastener.